May 31, 2013

Youngsters excited about news

Nothing excites me more than news, but I know not everyone
is as enthusiastic about it as I am. That’s why I’ve been thrilled over the
past couple days to see the intrigued reactions from Hamilton high school students as they’ve
paraded through the newsroom on their way to the Spec’s photo studio. Students
have been amazed to see the place where the magic happens.

No, I haven’t been spending my summer as an intern leading
tours. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll be running a feature in the GO section on
some of Hamilton’s
graduating high school students – who are they? What will they miss most about
high school? And what’s next for them?

We’ve had students come into the studio to shoot a few
pictures of them and capture a little video while we’re at it. Many students
said they’ve driven by the building too many times to count, but they’ve never
been inside before this visit. “It’s so quiet,” one student remarked as we
walked past a row of desks, reporters busy making phone calls, typing away at
their computers as they finish stories on deadline, hashing out story plans
with an editor. He must’ve caught us during a downtime because I certainly
wouldn’t describe the newsroom as a quiet place.

While we can only squeeze eight students into the paper,
we’ll be running many more profiles online – showcasing what excites and
worries students from across the city. Tune in to read about the students in
print and online, see their photographs and hear what they had to say in a
video.